Coldiretti: 1.5 million Italians vacationing abroad brave the virus

Despite calls for Italian vacations, there are still 1.5 million compatriots who will vacation abroad again this year, a Coldiretti/Ixè survey found. These numbers have halved compared to last year (1.5 million Italians who will spend their vacations abroad in August in 2020 compared to 3.3 in the same period in 2019), but, Coldiretti notes, they are still people who are “defying the risks related to the pandemic,” as there are “dangers of contagion related to those returning from vacations in other countries, which have led to the preparation of new rapid tests for the coronavirus to be carried out at airports and borders.” The reference is to the measures that some regions are taking against residents returning from vacation: in Puglia, for example, quarantine has been established for those returning from Greece, Malta or Spain, while Emilia Romagna has decreed mandatory swabbing for those returning from Greece, Malta, Spain or Croatia.

“Among those who have chosen to cross national borders anyway,” reads a Coldiretti note, “the vast majority travel in Europe even though EU destinations certainly do not reduce the dangers of infection, especially if precautionary measures, starting with the use of a mask, are not observed.”

Instead, the percentage of those who choose Italy as their vacation destination is growing: from 86 percent of vacationers last year to 93 percent this year. However, the number of Italians who choose hotels has dropped, while the numbers of those who use houses, whether owned or owned by third parties, or who stay at agritourisms, which, “often located in isolated areas in family structures with a small number of beds and at the table and with ample space in the ’outdoors,” Coldiretti stresses, “are perhaps the safest places for summer vacations because it is easier to ensure compliance with precautionary measures to guard against infection.”

Still, 35 percent of vacationers chose to spend their stay avoiding contact with other people as much as possible and staying home alone or with their family. An additional 59 percent chose only close or trusted friends, while only 8 percent did not want to forgo group vacations, seeking to make new acquaintances. In addition, last data, one more new fact: 1 in 4 Italians, according to the Coldiretti/Ixè survey, thus 25 percent of vacationers, chose a destination close to home, that is, within their region, despite the green light to travel throughout the country.

Coldiretti: 1.5 million Italians vacationing abroad brave the virus

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